News – The Wooster Voicehttp://thewoostervoice.spaces.wooster.edu
The Official Student Newspaper of The College of Wooster since 1883Fri, 05 May 2017 07:50:51 +0000en-UShourly1https://wordpress.org/?v=4.7.5Vandalism, graffiti found on campus patiohttp://thewoostervoice.spaces.wooster.edu/2017/05/05/vandalism-graffiti-found-on-campus-patio/
http://thewoostervoice.spaces.wooster.edu/2017/05/05/vandalism-graffiti-found-on-campus-patio/#respondFri, 05 May 2017 07:50:00 +0000http://thewoostervoice.spaces.wooster.edu/?p=13686Janel EnglandNews Editor

On the morning of April 30, red graffiti was discovered on the small patio located on Pearl Street next to the Admissions Office.

The graffiti consisted of the phrases “Kill liberals,” “Fuck Dean Brown” and “Comms will win” as well as multiple depictions of the hammer and sickle, a well-known communist symbol. One of the benches and a tree at the site were also tagged with indecipherable markings.

The incident, as of press time, was still under investigation. However, Associate Director of Security and Protective Services Joe Kirk said of the investigation, “We have a couple of leads at this point in time, and kind of feel like we know who might have done it.”

“The fact that Dean Brown’s name was mentioned makes it obviously more likely a student than not a student. But it is something that we’re keeping all options open and thinking about all of the possibilities. We’ve gotten a couple of tips from a couple of different sources, and so we’re just trying to follow up on those,” added Kirk.

As of press time, the College had yet to notify the campus community of the incident. Kirk attributed this to the fact that the incident is currently under investigation. “We look and try to figure out [if there is] some merit or validity to what is being said, meaning is it an actual death threat or is it just someone spouting off — whatever the case may be. It is concerning to us obviously,” said Kirk.

Kirk also acknowledged that because of current events, the graffiti’s message was particularly alarming.

“We’re hopefully going to bring in the person either today or tomorrow who is responsible for it. I think in this era of harassment or discrimination, or whatever you want to call it, that seems to be going on across the country — this falls within that line of the political climate that has been going on. When the person puts Russian symbols as part of the graffiti along with the issue against liberals, you know, that becomes concerning again,” said Kirk.

Students on both side of the political spectrum are condemning the graffiti. Fritz Schoenfeld ’17, president of College Democrats said, “I appreciate student expressing themselves, but vandalism is definitely against the rules and using the word ‘kill’ before any group of people makes this a threat, which needs to be taken seriously.”

Drake Schwenke ’18, president of the Wooster Right-Wingers, said of the graffiti, “We as students can only make assumptions and deduce from what evidence that has been presented to us at the scene. Broken beer bottles, a smashed spray can cap, and crudely painted lines suggest that whoever did this was drunk and the late hour in which the event is reported to have taken place suggest that the perpetrators were likely following a night of revelry. There are rumors abuzz that a themed party that would have involved Communist imagery took place Saturday night and it would logically follow that whoever did this came from there.”

He further iterated Shoenfeld’s point: “We have a close-knit community here despite our differences and while I think that the graffiti was representative of a mere drunken May Day political shenanigan we hope that the College recognizes the severity of these depictions and acts accordingly.”

The members of the Educational Policy Committee met with the student body last week to present their “working framework” of possible revisions to the College Curriculum. During the meeting, EPC members Margaret Sestito ’18 and Dean for Curriculum and Academic Engagement Henry Kreuzman introduced and took questions on the framework, which was scheduled to be presented for faculty review on May 1.

Kreuzman opened by crediting the members of the EPC for doing “a tremendous amount of work” in drafting the framework and taking special note of how long it had been since the Wooster curriculum had been updated in 2000. He compared the necessity of updating the curriculum to the growth of technology.

The heart of the new proposal is its outline for a new liberal arts core, which consists of six courses in “Liberal Arts Literacies,” three courses on “Inquiry and Communication,” four courses in “Global Engagement,” and two courses in “Justice and Civic/Social Responsibility.” The six Liberal Arts Literacies requirements are all loosely defined in familiar-looking terms (one course each in Quantitative Literacy and in Historical and Humanistic Understanding, for example); other categories, such as Justice and Civic/Social Responsibility, are less clearly defined.

Kreuzman noted that finding courses appropriate for each category will involve feedback from members of the faculty as well as from students, “The devil’s in the details, and we’re gonna have to hammer out those details.”

While the current plan currently totals out to 15 courses, according to the plan “a student could … with extremely efficient double counting … fulfill all their core requirements with a minimum of 10 courses.” In his question and answer segment, Dean Kreuzman explained that this is about the same number of courses required by the current curriculum.

One proposed introduction to the curriculum that notably incorporates a more individual approach to one’s education is the addition of “Interdisciplinary Concentrations.” Concentrations, as outlined in the handout distributed to attendees, would consist of four to six “related courses or programs already existing in our curriculum” and would serve as a way for students to customize their education in addition to minors.

The charters of two new student groups, the First Generation Students Organization (FGSO) and Let’s Taco About Food, were approved by Campus Council on Thursday, April 27. Both groups are the latest groups to be chartered, after the European Students Association’s charter was approved on April 13.

FGSO seeks to provide resources for students who are the first in their families to attend college, and Let’s Taco About Food is dedicated to bringing college students together around cooking and food-related events.

“Both of these organizations enrich student life by providing support and additional activities for the students to benefit from,” Jordan Griffith ’19, at-large member of the Campus Council, said.

“We’ve sort of been in the process for a few months,” Sosa said. “So it’s really nice to finally be a recognized organization on campus.”

At their first meeting on April 26, Sosa said that they had already received a large amount of interest.

“We actually had a really good turnout,” Sosa said. “We had a lot of people come up to us and tell us that they were really proud to see that this organization has come to campus.”

As a chartered organization, FGSO plans to host a variety of events, including a “Back to School Cookout” and workshops targeted towards first generation college students. McCubbins is also attempting to reach out to Wooster High School.

“We’d really love to get in contact with [the high school] to try to set up workshops… to help the students there get prepared for college and help with their transition,” McCubbins said.

Carly Mandell ’19, co-president of Let’s Taco About Food with Rie Matsuzaki ’19, said that their organization had similarly started meeting this semester and was eager to become more active next semester.

“We [tabled in Lowry and] have about 100 people signed up to get regular e-mails from us,” Mandell said. “Once we get the budget, I think we’ll definitely have more people in our regular meetings.”

Mandell said she met Matsuzaki when they took the same psychology class, and realized together that food could bring about new intercultural connections on campus.

“Food is a good way to show your culture,” Mandell said, noting the value she placed in her own culture as a Jewish person. “I realized [with Matsuzaki] that domestic and international students really keep to their own groups, so I thought food would be a good way to get rid of those boundaries.”

Next year, the group wants to host a Food Festival to show how different cultures make the same type of foods, like pasta, as well as another event to teach students food etiquette from multiple cultures. Mandell also said the group would consider working with other student organizations, like ISA or Hillel, which host food-related events on campus.

“We have a lot of cool students right now [who cook], and I’m excited to see [their] perspective on food,” Mandell said.

Several senior students, dissatisfied with the selection of former College of Wooster President Grant Cornwell as the 2017 Commencement speaker, organized to meet with President Sarah Bolton and members of the administration to address their concerns. Scott Wagner ’17 explained that he became interested in investigating the matter after he spoke with other several other seniors who “seemed unhappy with the decision.” He went on to say, “We feel that during his tenure at Wooster former President Cornwell did not take an active role in students’ lives, and we questioned the process by which he was chosen to be our commencement speaker.”

Theresa Spadola ’17 suggested, “Cornwell does not fit the bill” to be the Commencement speaker due in part to his perceived lack of meaningful engagement with the graduating class.

Secretary of the College Angela Johnston explained that the process of selecting a commencement speaker is based primarily on honorary degree recipients. Nominations for honorary degrees are brought to the Honorary Degrees Committee each year. Faculty and the Board of Trustees must vote on those selected in the committee. According to Johnston it is routine to give honorary degrees to former presidents within one to three years after completing their tenure. Johnston explains that it is customary for recipients of honorary degree to speak at commencement. However, Wagner points out, “Angela [Johnston] and President Bolton emphasized that honorary degree recipients were not expressly chosen as de-facto Commencement speakers.” Johnston explained that while honorary degree recipients are not paid, their decision to speak to the campus is made on a voluntary basis.

Wagner and Spadola expressed concern for the lack of transparency and student involvement in the selection of the 2017 commencement speaker. Johnston explained that while according to statute, the Honorary Degree Committee is composed of four faculty members and two students selected from the Student Government Association (SGA), and “the students were not appointed by SGA in time for the decision.” After being unable to participate in the Honorary Degree Committee nomination process, students were not involved in any other aspect of the commencement speaker selection. Spadola said, “Students, I believe, just feel a bit blind-sided by this decision because the process is rather convoluted and no effort of transparency has been put in.”

Both Wagner and Spadola were invited to meet with President Bolton and members of the administration to address their concerns surrounding the selection of former President Cornwell and the Commencement speaker selection process itself. Wagner explained, “While we are not entirely enthusiastic about the selection of former President Cornwell, we respect the decision of the Honorary Degree Committee.” Spadola suggested for increased transparency in the selection process, “Going forward I am recommending to the appropriate groups that we take a good look at the process and see where students can be involved and improvements can be made.”

Evan White ’18 has started the Free Tampon Collective, a petition started on change.org. The petition’s goal is “to provide tampons, free of charge, in central bathrooms on campus,” so that students who need menstrual products will always have access to them.

“I’ve been aware of students at Wooster who are unable to afford menstrual products […] My hope for this initiative is to provide students who are in need of menstrual care with proper support,” said White.

White got the idea for the petition on a 2008 visit to Butler University, where they noticed baskets of menstrual care products in every female bathroom. They were reminded of it later on when they noticed students at Wooster struggle to find access to the hygiene products they needed.

The project aims to provide tampons free of charge, not just for students who might not have immediate access to hygiene products but also for those who may not be able to afford them.

The petition asserts that “having access to tampons for some College of Wooster students just isn’t fiscally possible. [The College] should provide meaningful resources to marginalized groups on campus.”

Although MacLeod’s does sell tampons, the petition does not consider this an acceptable solution, asserting that “While the C-Store […]provides tampons, they are poorly made and have uncomfortable cardboard applicators.”

The petition goes on to point out that the nearest alternative location to purchase tampons is the Drug Mart on Beall Ave., a significant walk from campus that would be inconvenient for students who menstruate unexpectedly.

The petition is addressed to Dean of Students and Vice President for Student Affairs Scott Brown and the Center for Diversity and Inclusion.

When reached for comment, Dean Brown, who also leads the student affairs division of the College administration, said that he hadn’t received any petitions yet.

However, Brown said, “I always listen to students’ concerns, no matter what form,” including petitions. “My goal is to get a sense of the truly central concern, and see the best way we might address it balancing any competing issues.”

As for his idea of what an initial implementation of the petition’s goals might look like, Brown said “with any issue like this, we might consider a pilot in Wellness, CDI or high traffic restrooms closer to academic buildings.”

As of press time, the petition has 227 signatures of the 500 signature benchmark.

White currently plans on meeting with VOX’s executive board and attending their general meeting this week on Wednesday, April 19.

VOX is the sexual-health group affiliated with Planned Parenthood responsible for the campus-wide free condom service.

For the remainder of April, The College of Wooster resident assistants will collect pads, tampons, menstrual cups and packaged panties as part of a menstrual drive.

The drive, dubbed “Panty Raid,” was started by Olivia Lawrence ’18 and Marlee Pavlechko ’19 as an outreach community builder focusing on service for the greater Wooster community.

Donated items will be distributed to women’s and homeless shelters in the Wooster area.

According to Lawrence, a resident assistant in Wagner Hall, the idea stemmed from the sense of community within her residence hall.

“Being a hall of [first-year] girls, we wanted our programs this semester to be tailored toward building up each other and other women,” said Lawrence.

“This included a bulletin board of empowering quotes from strong female celebrities and other programs discussing topics from body positivity to self-care. To keep with the theme, we thought it would be appropriate to donate to women’s and homeless shelters in the area since these products are often overlooked in other hygiene drives.”

Lawrence’s observation is evident in the national debate surrounding the disproportionate cost to users of these products.

In February of this year, two state legislators — Ohio State Reps. Greta Johnson and Brigid Kelly — proposed an Ohio bill that would eliminate the sales tax on menstrual products like those being collected for donation.

Though the FDA classifies menstrual products as “medical devices,” users of these products spend an average of $70 a year on menstrual products, racking up over $11 million in sales tax for the state.

This cost has been disputed as discriminatory against women and users of menstrual products. If the bill passes, Ohio will become the newest of 13 states — including Illinois and Pennsylvania — to exempt menstrual products from state sales tax.

Until then, Wooster resident assistants urge students to participate in the menstrual drive.

While the drive began in Wagner Hall, a number of Resident Assistants from other residence halls have joined the efforts, creating a competition between residence halls — a pizza party will be awarded to the hall that collects the most items.

Donations can also be given in lieu of service hours. According to Lawrence, up two hours of service can be documented for $10 worth of donated products.

Donations bins are located in Wagner, Compton, Bornhuetter, Kenarden and other residence halls. The drive will extend to the end of the month, upon which students are encouraged to help package all donated products on April 30 at 3 p.m. in Wagner Hall.

“Panty raid” is the second drive of its kind, with a similar menstrual drive organized by VOX and Epsilon Kappa Omnicron (EKO). For more information regarding this drive, contact Kay Schwab ’20.

In November, The College of Wooster announced that tuition and fees for the 2017-2018 academic year will total $48,600, with room and board raising this figure to a “comprehensive fee” of $60,000.

In the past, tuition for the succeeding academic year was set by the Board of Trustees at a spring meeting, with the new rate announced over spring break.

This year, the Board decided upon next year’s rate during their October meeting, and it was announced to rising students around Thanksgiving, in a letter sent to place of the students’ primary residence, according to College President Sarah Bolton.

“We did that in order to help students get financial aid and financial information earlier. There was a change in federal law about the FAFSA and which tax year students could use to fill out their FAFSA,” said Bolton.

Bolton continued, “That meant that students would be able to apply for financial aid much earlier because they wouldn’t need their 2016 tax returns. It’s a real advantage to people to have a sense of what their college costs are going to be earlier. So what we did was try to make it possible for students to apply for financial aid and know what the charges are going to be already by late fall. In order to do that, you have to set the tuition. We moved the tuition decisions earlier so that students could apply for financial aid and actually know where they stood earlier on.”

The raise is consistent with a longer trend of rising tuition costs at the College. Since the 2001-2002 academic year, tuition has more than doubled, from $22,430 in 2001-2002 to $48,600 in 2017-2018. The raise from $46,860, the tuition rate for 2016-2017, to $48,600 is consistent with the rate of tuition increases from year to year over the past 17 academic years.

Since 2001-2002, the College has increased tuition between approximately 3.4 percent and 6.48 percent annually, with an average increase of approximately 4.9 percent.

While the College has steadily increased costs, financial aid grants approximately 85 percent of Wooster students some degree of financial assistance, mostly through the form of merit scholarships, making the “sticker price” tuition of $60,000 greater than the sum that most students will pay.

When asked about how the College goes about deciding tuition rates, Bolton said, “We try to think about what is necessary in order to sustain the College’s mission and also that will allow people to affordably come to the College. Our endowment is such so that it only supports approximately 20 percent of the cost to run the College. For us, the tuition and fees are very important for us to be able to do everything from paying professors’ salaries to keeping the buildings vertical. If we want our faculty and staff to have a cost of living increase, we know we need to increase tuition because there is no other revenue source that would be able to accommodate this increase in salary. There is a commitment that the College has so that people won’t fall behind the cost of living increases.”

The College is not alone nationally when it comes to trends in tuition increase over the past few decades. According to Ray Franke, a professor of education at the University of Massachusetts, college tuition has been rising about six percentage points above what the rate of inflation would suggest since the beginning of the 1990s.

Oftentimes this increase is attributed to the rise of ‘non-teaching positions’ at colleges and universities nationwide.

While Bolton agreed that this increase in administrative positions was also true of the College, she clarified that since “non-teaching” positions encompass every facet of the College beside professors, many of these positions are vital to the College’s operation, from new counselors in the Wellness Center to staff in the Center for Diversity and Inclusion and a full-time Title IX coordinator.

Amongst the colleges of the Great Lakes College Association, another of Wooster’s primary consortia, Wooster’s tuition lies amongst the mean, although it provides a greater degree of financial aid, according to Bolton.

The College’s steady increase in tuition raises questions regarding affordability and the ideal for an inclusive and accessible Wooster.

According to a survey by Sallie Mae, 55 percent of families in 2016 eliminated a college from consideration for attendance based purely on published price alone.

Furthermore, a study from Longmire and Company reported that 60 percent of families say that they are unaware that private colleges’ sticker price rarely represents the average cost of attendance.

When asked about the issue of affordability and its ramifications for the College, Bolton highlighted the need for the College to align itself with efforts to provide better information about tuition to prospective students.

“For us being part of those collaborative efforts is an important thing. For us individually […] some of it has to do with making sure that our admissions teams are visiting a wide variety of communities […] so we can explain what is available to students and make sure that families have an opportunity to get those questions asked.”

On Thursday, April 13, Campus Council approved the charter for the European Students Association (ESA), giving it formal status as a campus student organization. The group formed in November to represent the College’s European international students and global nomads.

“The ESA filled a niche that had not been filled yet and needed to be filled,” Jordan Griffith ’19, an at-large member of the Campus Council, said of the decision. “[W]e believe that the existence of the group will help students on campus understand our diversity better.”

Marco Roccato ’20, the president of ESA, said that the group was glad to have received their new status and felt it would allow them to do more in the future.

“Hearing the news from Campus Council made us more than happy,” Roccato said.

Even before being chartered, Roccato explained that the members of the group would frequently meet to spend time with each other, saying that those meetings had helped him bond with fellow European students.

“[A]fter one of our meetings, I was talking to a couple of our rising seniors in the group, and they were saying, ‘We didn’t have anything like this on campus for us,’” Roccato said. “And so, having the ability [to spend] time together and sharing a common identity as Europeans — it’s definitely nice for all of us.”

As a chartered school organization, Roccato said that the group first plans to continue and expand its current work.

In February, in lieu of official club status, ESA members worked with the International Students Association to reserve space for a European Dinner in Babcock Hall, where they also prepared the dishes.

Last week, its members also put together an informal European Trivia Night on the first floor of Lowry.

“[The International Students Association] was extremely great at inviting us to be part of the decision-making process,” Roccato said about the European Dinner. “We helped set up the event and did small presentations.”

At the European Trivia Night, audience members answered questions about European culture for prizes. He said that the club officers had purchased the prizes with their own money in order to host the event.

“We were more than happy to do that, to have something to offer to the people coming to the event,” Roccato said.

In the future, Roccato said that the ESA would expand the number of campus events it participates in and hosts.

Before finals at the end of this year, he said that he hoped to co-host a FIFA-inspired soccer tournament with the African Student Union.

The group’s budget for next fall includes the European Dinner and European Trivia Night, along with other events.

In particular, Roccato said that they hoped to host cultural events based on their counterparts in Europe.

He also said that they would consider entering IEW’s Culture Show as a group. “We’re all very excited,” Roccato said. “We’re looking forward to the next semester.”

At the same meeting, Campus Council also discussed the charter of the First-Generation Student Organization, but a final decision was not made due to what Griffith called a “procedural misstep.” He said he expected their charter to be approved during the Council’s next meeting.

Four new postdoctoral fellows will join the faculty next year in an effort to improve its diversity.

Alvaro Corral, who specializes in Latino politics and immigration policy, will join the political science department; Scarlett Hester, a specialist in rhetoric and media studies, will join the communication studies department; Eunsong Kim, a poet and researcher in literature and cultural studies, will join the English department; and Carlo Moreno, whose focus is in food systems and agriculture, will join the environmental studies program.

The fellowship positions are made possible by the Reggie Williams and Dale Perry Fund, which was created by the Board of Trustees in October following a demonstration by the campus community. The demonstration was a silent protest in response to outcry surrounding a comment made by a member of the Board.

According to Carolyn Newton, the provost of the College, the hiring of four postdoctoral fellows at a time is a first for Wooster.

“We believe that the experience of the four faculty members will be enhanced by being part of the cohort, similarly to how the Posse program works for students,” Newton said, referencing a program by the Posse Foundation where high school students are selected in groups of ten to receive four-year scholarships to the same college.

Applications for the fellowships were received from the Consortium for Faculty Diversity, an association of 48 liberal arts colleges of which Wooster is a member. The Consortium is dedicated to increasing the representation of minority groups at colleges, particularly among faculty.

Departments at Wooster that were interested in having a fellow sent proposals to the College. Departments whose proposals were selected then interviewed Consortium applicants with matching expertise.

“I think one of the English Department’s main goals [in having a fellow] is to provide students with as much diversity as possible in terms of literature and culture,” Professor Dan Bourne, chair of English, said. “That goes for whom students work with as well as read.”

In addition to pursuing research within their area of interest, the fellows will each teach around three courses next year in their departments. In English, Kim is planning to teach additional classes on Asian-American literature, as well as on the connection between literature, art and social protest. According to Professor Denise Bostdorff, chair of the communication studies department, there are plans for Hester to teach a section of Public Speaking in the fall and two 200-level courses in the spring, most likely on race and gender.

Bostdorff, who is also the chair of the Faculty Conference Committee with Trustees, was a signatory to the committee’s November open letter on faculty diversity published in the Voice. Reflecting on this letter, Bostdorff praised the hiring of the fellows but maintained that she would like more to be done to improve diversity.

“Wooster still has a long way to go to improve faculty-staff diversity and to create an environment in which diversity can thrive,” Bostdorff said, “But the hiring of the fellows and the generous gift that made their hiring possible is a step in the right direction.”

All of the fellowships except for Moreno’s last for one year, but will be renewable. According to Newton, the College hopes to keep the same number of fellows in future years if funding is available.

Campus Council (CC) and the Student Government Association (SGA) held a joint discussion meeting this past weekend designed to build connections and collaboration efforts between the two groups in the coming year. At large Campus Council representative Jordan Griffith ’19 said, “The current relationship is non-existent beyond small efforts from individual representatives.” However, he believes that by recognizing the advocacy strengths of SGA and the policy influence of Campus Council, the two collaborate constructively and will avoid, as he put it, “working against each other.” SGA Senator-at-Large, Reagan Kazyak ’19 suggested SGA President Margaret Sestito ’18 is committed to developing this collaborative relationship in the future.

During the joint discussion meeting representatives in attendance were split up into three committees focusing on social life, leadership and Greek Life. Campus Council International Diversity representative, Marina Adams ’19 emphasized that Greek Life was a major topic of conversation and debate. Adams explained that students have voiced their confusion about suspensions and treatment of Greek Life in the last year. She said, “Clarifying policy is just a starting point.” Griffith hopes that “redefining Greek Life” will become a major focus in student advocacy as SGA and Campus Council seek clarification around issues associated with Greek groups. He explained, “This would involve Greek organizations expressing what they believe their purpose is, what they add to the campus, and what they’re doing to reach out.” Kazyak explained that while processing issues related to Greek Life has been a “slow process,” better communication between student advocacy and policy bodies will aid representative efficiency in the future.

In addition to the focus on Greek Life, Adams articulated concerns surrounding interest in student representative functions. She explained, “We have a clear gap between events that are happening and what students actually go to. Working on closing that gap, on identifying what events bring people in and what do they have in common is a must.” She hopes that the new body of student representatives can help to encourage more student involvement in SGA and Campus Council programing. Griffith highlighted that “students should know that the student representatives are in this position to serve the student body, so hold them accountable and bring up your issues to the reps.”

Representatives from both groups emphasized room for growth within their collaborative partnership. Kazyak, Adams and Griffith all agreed that current levels of communication have been largely non-existent and that this has worked against the interest of the student body. Griffith explained, “In the future, I think we can more effectively influence change on campus by attacking issues on both a policy and on an advocacy front.”